Venomous snake on the loose near Vienna

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A poisonous spitting cobra is on the loose near Vienna after escaping from a container shipped from Indonesia to a warehouse just south of the Austrian capital.

A worker who opened the container had been shocked to spot the snake inside, before it slipped away and disappeared.

Experts were immediately called and - with the help of photographs - identified the snake as an Indonesian spitting cobra, whose venom can be deadly to humans or leave people blind if spat in the eyes.

An intensive search was carried out throughout the factory but the snake has still not been found.

According to experts quoted in Heute, the nearest antidote to venom of this kind is probably in Germany or Switzerland.